Wall panel construction



y 1953 I v c. 'r. M ELR oY 2,835,938

WALL PANEL CONSTRUCTION Filed larch 15, 1956 14 .1. J1

J6 J9 Z gig ZZ .242

IN VEN TOR. CZ/FFURO TMHROY United rates This invention relates to a wall panel construction and to a method for assembling panels on a wall or similar surfaces. 7

Wall panels, conventionally, are made in the uniform size of four by eight feet. Ordinary home ceiling heights are usually eight feet to eight feet two to four inches. When applying wall panels of the above size on walls of the eight feet to eight feet four inch height, considerable difiiculty is encountered in such application if it is necessary to effect a coplanar connection between adjacent panels. This difficulty arises from the high resistance to sliding movement of a panel being placed on a wall as caused by the mastic employed for holding the panel in place. In cases where a longitudinal strip or key is used for connecting the panels at their joint or seam, it becomes necessary to so angularly tilt the panel being applied that one corner thereof is first engaged with the key strip that is in the panel already mounted. Then, the panel being applied may be swung to mating alignment with the panel on the wall. The small difference between the panel length and the ceiling height makes it increasingly diificult to effect a facile and rapid mounting of the panels.

Moreover, in order to readily enter the key or strip into grooves provided in the panel edges, considerable clearance is necessarily provided between the strip and the grooves into which it fits. This makes for a loose fit of such degree that considerable misalignment between adjacent panels may result.

Recognizing the above faults in key strip-connected wall panels, it is an object of the present invention to provide simple, novel and improved panel-connecting means that will largely eliminate said faults.

Another object of the invention is to provide, in a wall panel construction, a tension-imparting key strip that pro vides automatic panel alignment and also greatly facilitates panel mounting.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved panel-mounting method whereby large-area panels may be readily mounted even under confined or spacelimiting conditions.

The invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description. However, the drawing merely shows and the following description merely describes, preferred embodiments of the present invention, which are given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawing, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a room as taken through one wall and the floor and ceiling thereof, and

atent O showing a panel-mounted wall according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged and fragmentary elevational view, partly in section, of the wall shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view as taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the manner of applying a panel to said wall.

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a modification.

Fig. 1 shows a typical floor 10, ceiling 11, and side wall 12 of a room or other enclosure, the figure also showing a wall 13 on which is applied a series of vertical panels 14. A base board 15 is also shown and it will be seen that the height of said panels (which are vertically applied) is somewhat less than the distance between the floor and ceiling, the difference being the height of the base board. The arrangement may vary, but the showing of Fig. 1 is intended as exemplary. In any case, it will be evident that the room height is only inches greater than the heights of panels 14, pointing up the lack of space to apply said panels with a coplanar angular application on a mastic-covered wall.

With more particular reference to Figs. 2 and 3, the panels 14 are applied to a wall or like surface 16, the same having been first coated with a mastic material 17 that effects a bond between said panels and wall.

According to the present invention, each longitudinal (in this case, vertical) edge 13 of each panel is formed to have a narrow groove 19 that is preferably of substantial depth in relation to the width of the groove, and a key strip 20 spans across the seam formed by the abutting edges 18 of the panels and resides in the registering grooves 19.

The panels 14 may vary in their construction and usually are ofplywood, as indicated. In practice, the outer corner of each longitudinal edge 18 may have a chamfer 21, although such chamfer may be omitted, if desired. p

The key strip 20 is preferably formed of spring metal of relatively thin gauge, although other materials, of which hard plastics are an example, may be used. Said strips 20 are made to be of the same length as the height of the panels.

As shown inFig. 4, said strips are provided with a transverse curvature which imparts transverse resilience of the strips and, in a. considerable degree, renders said strips longitudinally stable so they will retain the longitudinal straightness. It is evident, therefore, that it is a simple matter toplace a thin-gauge strip 20 in the groove 19 of a panel 14 already in place on a wall 16 and adhered to said wall by mastic 17. When so placed, said strip 20 will presentv a thin longitudinal edge 22 that is materially thinner than the width of an edge groove 19 of a panel 14 being applied. It will be noted that said edge 22 will, have a forwardly directed edge, providing the strip is placed with its concave side outward. The strips 20 normally or when not subjected to bending stress are substantially arcuate in cross-section with the perpendicular distance between the chord drawn between the end points of the arc of the key strip and a tangent drawn parallel to 'the chord, that is, the altitude of the are greater than the width of the groove 19.

By holding a panel 14a in the angular position with relation to wall 16 that is shown in Fig. 4-, the edge thereof nearest the wall may be readily applied in a manner to enter said strip edge 22 in the groove 19 of said nearest edge. Now, the adjacent edges 18 are abutted as shown and the remote longitudinal edge of panel 14a is swung in a direction toward wall 16 and, for the first time, achieving contact with the mastic 17 of the back face 23 of panel 14a.

During such swinging movement of panel 14a, the inner corner of the groove 19 of said panel bears against the strip edge 22 and causes a flattening of the normal curvature of the strip to the shallower curvature shown in Fig. 3. 'It will beevident that said strip is now under transverse tension, firmly gripping the faces of the aligned groove 19, and, thereby, assuring a firm aligning or registering fit of the abutting edges 18.

By nailing, at 22, through the strip, 20, at spaced points, where the edges 18 abut, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3, the panels may be firmly held against pulling away from the wall and the mastic coating. The holes made by such nails may be filled in to restore the continuity of the seams between the panels.

By offsetting the edges 18a and 18b of the panels, as in Fig. 5, the nails 24 may be applied in a manner to obviate deforming the edges. In other respects, the structure is as above described.

Since the panels are applied in succession and, when so applied, remain normal to the floor and ceiling regardless of the angle of presentation and of the swing toward the wall, the problem of space limitation is not present as in earlier structures and methods. Also, since the panels are first presented with only an edge engaged with the wall, the mastic offers no resistance to such application and the same achieves contact with the panel only when the panel is finally swung into place against the wall.

While the foregoing has illustrated and described what are now contemplated to be the best modes of carrying out my invention, the constructions are, of course, subject to modification without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is, therefore, not desired to restrict the invention to the particular forms of construction illustrated and described, but to cover allrnodifications that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A wall panel construction comprising a plurality of panels in edge-to-edge abutment, the abutting edges of the panels having longitudinal grooves therein, and a transversely curved resilient longitudinal key strip disposed wholly within the adjacent grooves of adjacent edges of said panels, the strip normally having a substantially arcuate section with altitude of the are normally greater than the groove width, the longitudinal edges of the strip being engaged with the walls of said groove and tensioned thereby to a more flattened transverse curvature of the strip than the initial curvature.

2. A panel joint between two panels having longitudinal abutting edges with grooves therein, said joint comprising a transversely curved flexible key strip spanning across the joint and connecting and residing wholly within said grooved edges, the strip normally having a substantially arcuate section with altitude of the arc normal- 1y greater than the groove width.

3. A panel joint between two panels having longitudinal abutting edges with grooves therein, said joint comprising a transversely curved flexible key strip spanning across the joint and connecting and residing wholly within said grooved edges, the grooves in said edges being substantially wider than the thickness of the strip, the

strip normally having a cross-section comprising a figure with an altitude normally greater than the groove width and resiliently compressible to correspond to groove width.

4. A panel joint between two panels having similarly grooved longitudinal abutting edges, said joint comprising a transversely curved flexible key strip spanning across the joint and connecting and residing wholly within said grooved edges, the grooves in said edges being substaetialiy wider than the thickness of the strip, the strip normally having a substantially arcuate section with altitude of the arc normally greater than the groove width and the strip being held in transverse curvature, by the walls of the grooves, that is flatter than the curvature initially imparted thereto.

5. A method for mounting a panel on a mastic-coated surface and which surface has an edge-grooved panel in position thereon, said method consisting in placing a transversely-curved unstressed flexible strip in the edge groove of said panel, presenting the grooved-edge of a similar panel to said strip to effect connection therewith and while said similar panel is at an angle to the plane of said surface, and, finally, swinging the panel from its position at an angle to the surface into flatwise engagement with the mastic covering said surface while stressing the strip by flattening the normal curvature thereof to a flatter curvature.

6. A method for mounting a panel on a mastic-coated surface and which surface has an edge-grooved panel in position thereon, said method consisting in placing a transversely-curved flexible strip in the edge groove of said panel, presenting the grooved-edge of a similar panel to said strip to effect connection therewith and while said similar panel is at an angle to the plane of said surface, and, finally, swinging the panel from its position at an angle to the surface into flatwise engagement with the mastic covering said surface and, while so swinging the panel, creating a tension in said strip by flattening the normal curvature thereof to at least a flatter curvature.

7. The method according to claim 6: and nailing through the strip and along the same between the adjacent edges of the connected panels.

8. A panel joint comprising a pair of edge-abutted panels, each abutting edge having a groove therein, the two grooves being in register and aligned, and a transversely curved resilient strip spanning across the joint and located wholly within the aligned grooves and connecting the grooved edges of the abutting panels, said strip normally having a cross-section forming a figure with an altitude greater than the groove width and compressible to stress the resilient strip when the joint is assembled, thereby maintaining the grooves in register and the panels in alignment.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 185,883 Bartlett Jan. 2, 1877 328,185 Butcher Oct. 13, 1885 605,750 Schou June 14, 1898 1,509,659 Luchich et a1 Sept. 23, 1924 2,158,732 Shannon May 16, 1939 

